If you’ve been following the real estate market, you’ll know the spring rush has started! For the most part it seems to be a seller’s market with more demand than supply. Even so, you don’t want to rely simply on a good market to see the best return on your investment. Feng Shui can be used to sell your home by increasing desirability and attracting more potential buyers. I’d like to share with you some simple Feng Shui tips to help sell your home.
Curb Appeal
As a potential buyer approaches your house, the first thing they see is the exterior and this is your first chance to make or break a sale. You want to do everything you can to make sure the buyer’s initial reaction is favourable, especially given that home buying decisions can be made within seconds. It is important to keep the yard clean and tidy. Plants are an excellent way to enhance a property’s appeal. For those located near the front door, make sure they are vibrant and free of dead foliage. Prune back or remove trees/shrubs that dominate the house or obscure view of the front door. You want to make the front yard and house inviting, not oppressive or unseen.
In Feng Shui, doors and windows are the gateways into our homes and responsible for bringing in positive energy. You want to make sure they are clean (inside and out). Both doors and windows should close and open easily, be free from clutter and generally well maintained. Some front door colours are better than others, depending on your house’s sitting position. Check out my previous article to determine the best colour for your front door. If the front door is not obvious – tucked around the side of the house – find a way to direct flow to this door. This could be done, for example, through integrating a beautiful pathway from the driveway/street to the front door.
Stage to Sell
Due to the appeal of shows dedicated to home design and decorating, such as HGTV, buyers’ expectations are high. Staging a property to enhance its features can make a huge difference in the perceived value of a property. At minimum you can employ simple staging techniques like using a neutral palette, cleaning the house and appliances, painting grubby walls, removing dated or shabby furniture, renting furniture if needed and finally, decluttering and depersonalizing. For the latter two, don’t go to the extreme, removing too much to create a cold and unwelcoming environment! You want to remove objects that are personal and replace with visually pleasing objects that are generic – objects that anyone can relate to and connect with. For instance, remove a photo of your children and replace it with a print of a seascape. You also want to avoid using imagery that could be confrontational. For example, remove pictures of anything to do with negative emotions/combat (e.g.: picture of fighter planes or army medals), items of religion/political significance or other objects that could be controversial.
When staging, the placement of furniture is equally important. You want to create a good flow that allows people to comfortably move around the home. The bed and desks should be placed so when lying in the bed or sitting at your desk you can see the doorway or entrance into the room. This is known as the power position or command position. If you have wood floors adding a rug can help to ground the room, adding a sense of luxury or coziness. Also, leave a little space between a piece of furniture and the wall it backs against to create a sense of space. Some may think this is counterintuitive, but it isn’t. Pushing a piece of furniture tightly against a wall can actually make a room feel constricted and uncomfortable. Pull it out about an inch from the wall.
You want your property to look fresh and new. An easy way to do this is through adding new linens. For a bedroom buy a new duvet cover and pillow shams. For the living room replace a tired looking rug, or give it a good steam to refresh it. If your couch is older you may be able to revive it by adding some new cushions and draping a worn arm with a blanket. One of the best ways to stage your property and make it feel fresh is through adding plants. They help to clean the air, lift heavy energy and soften a space. As with exterior foliage, make sure your plants are well kept – water them as needed, grow them in an appropriately sized pot and cut back any dead foliage.
Good Vibes
You want your home to be welcoming to anyone who enters it. To make your home the most appealing to buyers it should transmit joy, tranquillity and positivity. The points above - curb appeal and staging to sell – both play important roles in creating this atmosphere and live plants are especially important. This is because they soften a man-made space and link us with our inherent connection to nature. It has been proven that those connected with nature are happier, feel greater self-worth and have more positive emotions.[1] For those without a green thumb or rooms too dark to support a plant, fake plants are an option. In most cases, silk plants are better than plastic. It is important that with any fake plant you keep it free of dust and the area around it clean, or it could attract and raise negative energy within your space.
Smell sells! Ensure your home smells good, free of obnoxious or odorous aromas. Before a showing, remove garbage or compost. If weather permits, open windows to let in fresh air. If this is not possible, you can freshen the air with an air purifier, preferably one that accommodates a natural essential oil. You can also add a subtle fragrance by burning candles or incense. If you choose to do this, ensure the smell does not overpower, is fresh or relaxing to the senses and of common appeal (e.g.: sandalwood, sweet orange or vanilla).
Lastly, but not least, space cleansing is an important component to acquiring those good vibes. This is a very powerful strategy that is often overlooked in western culture. Activities or life events in the home can accumulate over time, leaving a place feeling heavy, negative or cold. I once had a real estate agent tell me that she entered a home with a client and felt a heavy darkness. Upon exiting the house, the clients agreed that they too felt it. The real estate agent later found out that there was a death in the house. The heavy feelings were the dark emotions associated with that death, both of the deceased and the relatives of the loved one. Needless to say, the client did not buy the house, and the agent did not feel it was a good purchase for them.
In this instance, a space cleansing could have removed the heaviness to restore a light, positive vibe. I can’t relay what a game changer space cleansing can be. A home doesn’t have to be in an extreme situation as in the above example either to receive its benefits. Space cleansing can lend a helping hand to, for example, a spring/fall clean, if you’re feeling stuck or remove negative energies after an argument or ending of a relationship. With regard to selling your home, space cleansing can uplift the energy, attracting positivity and abundance towards your sale. Likewise, if you are moving into a new space after the sale of your home, a space cleansing is equally important in order to create an inviting environment within your new space that you feel comfortable living in, and ridding any lingering energies from the previous occupants.
If you are selling and have applied Feng Shui tips to help sell your home, and it has worked, fantastic!! I’d love to connect and hear your stories. If you are finding it a challenge to sell your home, and your price point is reasonable, there are specific techniques that a Feng Shui expert can offer specific to your home’s needs. Contact me for a free chat to identify how I can help you!
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